2009年12月2日水曜日

Trader arrested in export violation to North Korea


According to the various newspaper sources on Dec 01, 2009, traders in Hyogo prefecture who run small trading company were arrested in violation of Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law ("FEFTL") to illegally export household items to North Korea.
They exported household items such as clothes via Dalian in China, but the final destination is suspected as Korea Paekho 7 Trading (朝鮮白虎7貿易会社) or Shinfung Trading (新興トレーディング), which are listed as WMD proliferation concerned party of METI.

In Japan, substantially all export (not only WMD stuff) to North Korea is prohibited for trade sanction. All export to North Korea is required to obtain approval of METI based on FEFTL Article 48, paragraph 3. This implies, however, no approval is granted in application due to government policy.
Household items are not restricted in export in Wassenaar Arrangement or any other international regimes. The export license for Wassenaar control or WMD related goods are based on FEFTL Article 48, paragraph 1. Therefore, the export of household items to North Korea is restricted in different provision of FEFTL.

The penalty of the violation of Article 48 paragraph 3 is imprisonment with work for not more than five years or a fine of not more than five million yen, or both. (When five times the price of the goods of the violation exceeds five million yen, a fine shall be not more than five times the price.) The penalty of FEFTL was actually enhanced since Nov. 01 this year. The previous penalty of violation of Article 38 paragraph 3 was three years imprisonment or a fine of not more than one million yen, or both. These arrested traders will be imposed severer penalty than before.

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